Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume I Part 14

The publication of 1632 is stated by Laverdiere to have been reissued in 1640, with a new t.i.tle and date, but without further changes. This, however, is not found in the National Library at Paris, which contains all the other editions and issues. The copies of the edition of 1632 which we have consulted are in the Harvard College Library and in the Boston Athenaeum.

It is of importance to refer, as we have done, to the particular copy used, for it appears to have been the custom in the case of books printed as early as the above, to keep the type standing, and print issues at intervals, sometimes without any change in the t.i.tle-page or date, and yet with alterations to some extent in the text. For instance, the copy of the publication of 1613 in the Harvard College Library differs from that in Mrs. Brown's Library, at Providence, in minor points, and particularly in reference to some changes in the small map. The same is true of the publication of 1603. The variations are probably in part owing to the lack of uniformity in spelling at that period.

None of Champlain's works had been reprinted until 1830, when there appeared, in two volumes, a reprint of the publication of 1632, "at the expense of the government, in order to give work to printers." Since then there has been published the elaborate work, with extensive annotations, of the Abbe Laverdiere, as follows:--

OEUVRES DE CHAMPLAIN, PUBLIeES SOUS LE PATRONAGE DE L'UNIVERSITe LAVAL. PAR L'ABBe C. H. LAVERDIeRE, M. A. SECONDE eDITION. 6 TOMES. 4TO. QUeBEC: IMPRIMe AU SeMINAIRE PAR GEO. E. DESBARATS. 1870.

This contains all the works of Champlain above mentioned, and the text is a faithful reprint from the early Paris editions. It includes, in addition to this, Champlain's narrative of his voyage to the West Indies, in 1598, of which the following is the t.i.tle:--

_Brief Discovrs des choses plvs remarqvables qve Sammvel Champlain de Brovage a reconneues aux Indes Occidentalles au voiage qu'il en a faict en icelles en l'annee mil v[c] iiij.[xx].xix. & en l'annee mil vj[c] i. comme ensuit_.

This had never before been published in French, although a translation of it had been issued by the Hakluyt Society in 1859. The _MS_. is the only one of Champlain's known to exist, excepting a letter to Richelieu, published by Laverdiere among the "Pieces Justificatives." When used by Laverdiere it was in the possession of M. Feret, of Dieppe, but has since been advertised for sale by the Paris booksellers, Maisonneuve & Co., at the price of 15,000 francs, and is now in the possession of M. Pinart.

The volume printed in 1632 has been frequently compared with that of 1613, as if the former were merely a second edition of the latter. But this conveys an erroneous idea of the relation between the two. In the first place, the volume of 1632 contains what is not given in any of the previous publications of Champlain. That is, it extends his narrative over the period from 1620 to 1632. It likewise goes over the same ground that is covered not only by the volume of 1613, but also by the other still later publications of Champlain, up to 1620. It includes, moreover, a treatise on navigation. In the second place, it is an abridgment, and not a second edition in any proper sense. It omits for the most part personal details and descriptions of the manners and customs of the Indians, so that very much that is essential to the full comprehension of Champlain's work as an observer and explorer is gone. Moreover, there seems a to be some internal evidence indicating that this abridgment was not made by Champlain himself, and Laverdiere suggests that the work has been tampered with by another hand. Thus, all favorable allusions to the Recollets, to whom Champlain was friendly, are modified or expunged, while the Jesuits are made to appear in a prominent and favorable light. This question has been specially considered by Laverdiere in his introduction to the issue of 1632, to which the reader is referred.

The language used by Champlain is essentially the cla.s.sic French of the time of Henry IV. The dialect or patois of Saintonge, his native province, was probably understood and spoken by him; but we have not discovered any influence of it in his writings, either in respect to idiom or vocabulary.

An occasional appearance at court, and his constant official intercourse with public men of prominence at Paris and elsewhere, rendered necessary strict attention to the language he used.

But though using in general the language of court and literature, he offends not unfrequently against the rules of grammar and logical arrangement. Probably his busy career did not allow him to read, much less study, at least in reference to their style, such masterpieces of literature as the "Essais" of Montaigne, the translations of Amyot, or the "Histoire Universelle" of D'Aubigne. The voyages of Cartier he undoubtedly read; but, although superior in point of literary merit to Champlaih's writings, they were, by no-means without their blemishes, nor were they worthy of being compared with the cla.s.sical authors to which we have alluded. But Champlain's discourse is so straightforward, and the thought so simple and clear, that the meaning is seldom obscure, and his occasional violations of grammar and looseness of style are quite pardonable in one whose occupations left him little time for correction and revision. Indeed, one rather wonders that the unpretending explorer writes so well. It is the thought, not the words, which occupies his attention. Sometimes, after beginning a period which runs on longer than usual, his interest in what he has to narrate seems so completely to occupy him that he forgets the way in which he commenced, and concludes in a manner not in logical accordance with the beginning. We subjoin a pa.s.sage or two ill.u.s.trative of his inadvertencies in respect to language. They are from his narrative of the voyage of 1603, and the text of the Paris edition is followed:

1. "Au dit bout du lac, il y a des peuples qui sont cabannez, puis on entre dans trois autres riuieres, quelques trois ou quatre iournees dans chacune, ou au bout desdites riuieres, il y a deux ou trois manieres de lacs, d'ou prend la source du Saguenay." Chap. iv.

2. "Cedit iour rengeant tousiours ladite coste du Nort, iusques vn lieu ou nous relachasmes pour les vents qui nous estoient contraires, ou il y auoit force rochers & lieux fort dangereux, nous feusmes trois iours en attendant le beau temps" Chap. v.

3. "Ce seroit vn grand bien qui pourrait trouuer la coste de la Floride quelque pa.s.sage qui allast donner proche du & susdit grand lac." Chap. x.

4. "lesquelles [riuieres] vont dans les terres, ou le pays y est tres-bon & fertille, & de fort bons ports." Chap. x.

5. "Il y a aussi vne autre pet.i.te riuiere qui va tomber comme moitie chemin de celle par ou reuint ledict sieur Preuert, ou sont comme deux manieres de lacs en ceste-dicte riuiere." Chap. xii.

The following pa.s.sages are taken at random from the voyages of 1604-10, as ill.u.s.trative of Champlain's style in general:

1. Explorations in the Bay of Fundy, Voyage of 1604-8. "De la riuiere sainct Iean nous fusmes quatre isles, en l'vne desquelles nous mismes pied terre, & y trouuasmes grande quant.i.te d'oiseaux appeliez Margos, don't nous prismes force pet.i.ts, qui sont aussi bons que pigeonneaux. Le sieur de Poitrincourt s'y pensa esgarer: Mais en fin il reuint nostre barque comme nous l'allions cerchant autour de isle, qui est esloignee de la terre ferme trois lieues." Chap iii.

2. Explorations in the Vineyard Sound. Voyage of 1604-8. "Comme nous eusmes fait quelques six ou sept lieues nous eusmes cognoissance d'vne isle que nous nommasmes la soupconneuse, pour auoir eu plusieurs fois croyance de loing que ce fut autre chose qu'vne isle, puis le vent nous vint contraire, qui nous fit relascher au lieu d'ou nous estions partis, auquel nous fusmes deux on trois jours sans que durant ce temps il vint aucun sauuage se presenter nous." Chap. xv.

3. Fight with the Indians on the Richelieu. Voyage of 1610.

"Les Yroquois s'estonnoient du bruit de nos arquebuses, & princ.i.p.alement de ce que les balles persoient mieux que leurs flesches; & eurent tellement l'espouuante de l'effet qu'elles faisoient, voyant plusieurs de leurs compaignons tombez morts, & blessez, que de crainte qu'ils auoient, croyans ces coups estre sans remede ils se iettoient par terre, quand ils entendoient le bruit: aussi ne tirions gueres faute, & deux ou trois balles chacun coup, & auios la pluspart du temps nos arquebuses appuyees sur le bord de leur barricade." Chap. ii.

The following words, found in the writings of Champlain, are to be noted as used by him in a sense different from the ordinary one, or as not found in the dictionaries. They occur in the voyages of 1603 and 1604-11. The numbers refer to the continuous pagination in the Quebec edition:

_appoil_, 159. A species of duck. (?)

_catalougue_, 266. A cloth used for wrapping up a dead body. Cf. Spanish _catalogo_.

_deserter_, 211, _et pa.s.sim_. In the sense of to clear up a new country by removing the trees, &c.

_esplan_, 166. A small fish, like the _equille_ of Normandy.

_estaire_, 250. A kind of mat. Cf. Spanish _estera_.

_fleurir_, 247. To break or foam, spoken of the waves of the sea.

_legueux_, 190. Watery.(?) Or for _ligneux_, fibrous.(?)

_marmette_, 159. A kind of sea-bird.

_Matachias_, 75, _et pa.s.sim_. Indian word for strings of beads, used to ornament the person.

_papesi_, 381. Name of one of the sails of a vessel.

_petunoir_, 79. Pipe for smoking.

_Pilotua_, 82, _et pa.s.sim_. Word used by the Indians for soothsayer or medicine-man.

_souler_, 252. In sense of, to be wont, accustomed.

_truitiere_, 264. Trout-brook.

The first and main aim of the translator has been to give the exact sense of the original, and he has endeavored also to reproduce as far as possible the spirit and tone of Champlain's narrative. The important requisite in a translation, that it should be pure and idiomatic English, without any transfer of the mode of expression peculiar to the foreign language, has not, it is hoped, been violated, at least to any great extent. If, perchance, a French term or usage has been transferred to the translation, it is because it has seemed that the sense or spirit would be better conveyed in this way. At best, a translation comes short of the original, and it is perhaps pardonable at times to admit a foreign term, if by this means the sense or style seems to be better preserved. It is hoped that the present work has been done so as to satisfy the demands of the historian, who may find it convenient to use it in his investigations.

C. P. O.

BOSTON, June 17, 1880

THE SAVAGES

OR VOYAGE OF

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN

OF BROUAGE,

Made in New France in the year 1603.

DESCRIBING,

The customs, mode of life, marriages, wars, and dwellings of the Savages of Canada. Discoveries for more than four hundred and fifty leagues in the country. The tribes, animals, rivers, lakes, islands, lands, trees, and fruits found there. Discoveries on the coast of La Cadie, and numerous mines existing there according to the report of the Savages.

PARIS.

Claude de Monstr'oeil, having his store in the Court of the Palace, under the name of Jesus.

WITH AUTHORITY OF THE KING.